


lightin’ up the night for you

by carrieevew



Series: Bellarke Bingo [7]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Accidental Kissing, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bellarke Bingo, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Happy Ending, Mount Weather, Season/Series 01, Season/Series 02, and for my next trick - everybody lives, secret softie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-10
Updated: 2020-09-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:27:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26395633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carrieevew/pseuds/carrieevew
Summary: Finally, the static on the screen cleared and instead they all saw—well, mostly smoke at first. But as the drone flew closer and the smoke cleared, it became clear that it was in fact some sort of a dropship that must’ve only just landed – right in the middle of the forest inhabited by the Outsiders. Clarke swallowed thickly and blinked a few times, not believing her eyes. She could hear murmurs all around the room but they all turned into shouts when the doors of the ship opened and probably about a hundred kids ran outside, screaming their lungs out.season 1 canon divergence, where Clarke and Bellamy live in Mount Weather and the Delinquents land on their doorstep.
Relationships: Bellamy Blake/Clarke Griffin
Series: Bellarke Bingo [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1417291
Comments: 11
Kudos: 92





	lightin’ up the night for you

**Author's Note:**

> hi, hello there!   
> took me over a year, but i finally got bingo! the squares used for this one are: secret softie, accidental kiss and Mount Weather. 
> 
> title from [_On The Other Side_](youtube.com/watch?v=3JC4bWCbBjM) by Phillip LaRue
> 
> hope you guys enjoy it!

The steady beeping of the dialysis machine was the only thing keeping Clarke awake at the moment. Her night shift was almost over but the last twenty minutes were always the worst.

By about 3 am, all activities seized in Mount Weather and at 5:40 am, only the guards on shift and the kitchen staff preparing breakfast were awake. Well, them and one lonely medical professional, always ready to help, even though the possibility of actually encountering an actual emergency during a night shift was miniscule.

Today’s shift was almost exciting, seeing how there was someone hooked up to the dialysis machine, undergoing treatment and Clarke had to pay attention and make sure there were no problems. Other than that, after her mother left at the beginning of Clarke’s shift, she had not seen another conscious human being for, oh, almost eight hours now.

But truth be told, she preferred it that way. Her final licensing exams were coming up in a few months and she still had tons and tons of studying to do, and the quietness of the night was the perfect environment to do that. After all, it’s not like she had actual sun to follow to tell her that her circadian rhythm was completely out of whack. Sure, Mount Weather was following the sun to set the clock but without windows, what difference did it make?

Clarke tapped her fingers on her textbook, once again grateful that she chose medicine over other, more technical fields. The technology changed so much, even during her short lifetime, but the human anatomy, even taking some of the mutations they saw amongst the Outsiders into consideration, remained the same, and that meant she was allowed to study from the pre-bombs hardcopy of _Gray’s Anatomy_. She knew that most of the students preferred the e-books but there was just something about flipping those delicate pages, tracing her fingers over the illustrations, reading the small notes that her predecessors added, that no tablet could beat.

The dialysis machine let out a louder series of beeps, signalising that the current round of treatment was over. Clarke got up from her seat and went over to check on Mrs. Vie. She was looking better with each round but sadly, they all knew that it was just a temporary fix. Not everyone took well to the new cocktail of pharmaceuticals that Clarke’s mother and her team concocted to battle the effects of the radiation but it was better than draining the blood from the Outsiders. Which is why Jaha managed to swing those results into a landslide win in the last elections. It allowed everyone to shift focus from defending themselves against the attacks from the outside towards maintaining the functionality of their home.

The Mount Weather base was built to sustain the government, not several hundreds of people for who knew how long. And after over a century, it was failing.

Clarke readjusted the machine, set it up to start the next treatment in a few hours and checked her father’s old watch.

_Twelve more minutes._

She went back to her chair, leaned back against the headrest and closed her eyes.

The sound of footsteps coming towards the medical ward, echoing in the empty corridor, startled her but soon, she relaxed, recognising the gait, the sound of heavy boots scuffing the floors.

“Working hard or hardly working?” asked a deep voice from behind her. Clarke smiled but schooled her expression before turning around and facing the newcomer.

Even in the unflattering guard’s uniform, Bellamy Blake looked good. Just as he always did. It was no wonder half of the Mount Weather population was making googly eyes at him. Clarke was determined not to let him know that she may or may not be amongst that half but lately, it’s been getting harder and harder.

Ever since Bellamy had been assigned the nightshift on Level 3, they’d developed a sort of routine. Each night that they were both on shift, he’d finish his rounds at the medical labs, bother her for the few minutes they had left till they were both off and then walk her to the mess hall so they could both get breakfast before they split up and went home.

It started after Bellamy had to restrain one of her patients who had a bad reaction to some medication and attacked her with an instrument tray. Admittedly, Clarke was grateful that Bellamy was able to tackle the man to the ground before he had the chance to swing the tray at her head but he most definitely didn’t need to know just how warm and gooey he made her feel when he took her face into his warm hands and asked if she was okay. He was cocky enough as it was.

Afterwards, Clarke insisted that she was perfectly able to take care of herself, or at the very least yell for help if needed, so he didn’t have to check up on her all the time, but she knew he still lingered by the door, every time someone came by. She tried to grumble whenever she noticed him but damn it, it wasn’t easy to pretend she hated that he cared.

Even if he did insist that he only did that because his own shifts were even more boring.

But Clarke saw his smile whenever they walked over to breakfast, how he’d look away whenever she made him laugh, like he was trying to hide how affected he was just as hard as she did.

Clarke got up from her seat and went over to where Bellamy was leaning against the doorsill.

_Six minutes left._

“Shouldn’t you still be patrolling the area?” She asked with a smirk and crossed her arms over her chest. Bellamy jutted his chin out.

“But I am,” he assured her. “Who knows what kind of things are going on here when no-one’s looking.”

Clarke made a show of looking around the room and then back at Bellamy with a cocked eyebrow.

“I think Mrs. Vie and I are safe here, officer Blake.”

“And how do you know I wasn’t talking about you?” Bellamy countered playfully and mirrored her stance. Clarke giggled under her breath but didn’t say anything, just grinned at him.

They stood like that for no more than a minute before the sound of hurried steps coming towards the lab shook them out of their stand-off. Bellamy untangled his arms and dropped them, his back straightening, face growing more serious. They still had another couple of minutes left on their shift after all.

After a beat, Abby turned the corner and arrived at the door. She apologised for running late and kissed Clarke’s cheek.

Clarke smiled at her mother but she could feel Bellamy stiffen at her side. She couldn’t really blame him. He did witness several of Abby’s lectures about how she needed to keep her focus solely on studying and forgo all distractions and while she never said much more than that, her tone didn’t leave any doubts that she counted Bellamy among those distractions. Sometimes, Clarke wondered if he was more uncomfortable with being disapproved of by her mother, or Vice President Griffin.

But in either case, the easy atmosphere between them had dissipated, so Clarke quickly gathered her things and led Bellamy out of the medical and towards the elevator. Bellamy didn’t really relax until the doors slid close and they were descending.

“She still hates me, doesn’t she?” he asked with a smile but his voice was strained. Clarke felt something tug inside her at the thought that he cared what her mother thought of him.

“Of course she doesn’t,” Clarke said with a small shake of her head. “She’s just concerned,” she went on but Bellamy’s face fell. “Not with you, Bellamy! It’s just—I, well.” Clarke stuttered for a moment. She rubbed at her face with the heels of her palms and exhaled.

When she looked back at him, Bellamy was staring at his boots, face unreadable. Clarke huffed.

“My mother’s just got a lot on her plate and with my exams coming up, she’s just stressed a lot. She wants me to do my best.”

“Mount Weather’s youngest certified doctor at 24, right?” he added, a smile back. Clarke smiled too, despite herself. He teased her enough about being an over-achiever but if that was what helped his mood, she was more than fine with that.

Clarke hummed. “Well, after I’m done, I’ll—“

But she never had the chance to tell him what might happen because the elevator arrived on Level 5 and the door opened to the hustle and bustle of the mess hall. They got off quickly and went to grab their breakfast, the conversation between them forgotten.

After, when Bellamy walked her back to her and her mother’s flat, Clarke called out to him, trying to go back to it. But when he turned around, Clarke lost her nerve. She knew Bellamy wasn’t one for relationships, everyone did. He didn’t have time for anything more than a fling when he was still taking care of his sister and now, he didn’t seem interested in anything at all, if the rumours were to be believed. Clarke considered her options a few times but every time, she chickened out before she asked him about it. About whether or not he was interested in _her_.

They were friends now and even if she wanted more, she hated the thought of making things awkward by letting it all out in the open. Sure, sometimes she caught him looking at her with that _look_ in his eyes but she didn’t have the guts to ask him what it meant. She was too scared that the answer would be ‘nothing’.

***

It was on Clarke’s rare day off that shit hit the fan.

Clarke had just left the library when all the alarms started blaring around them. She had a momentary flashback to her and Wells at the age of 15, studying for their civics test, trying to remember how to distinguish between all the different signals and what they meant. Only this was unlike anything Clarke had ever heard used in real life—and just one thing popped into her head.

_Air raid._

Clarke felt her blood freeze in her veins. As far as the could tell, the Outsiders didn’t have access to any kind of technology, even the most basic amenities, much less anything offensive. But if that were true, then what the hell was going on?

Her tasks immediately forgotten, Clarke turned around and raced towards the crisis office. She knew that she wasn’t exactly invited to whatever meeting was about to happen but that’s where her mother would be and if something was really going on, then—

Clarke shook her head and she reached Jaha’s office. She tried not to think that the last time something this serious was happening was when one of the air-vents broke down and her father was sent outside to fix it, about how that was the last time that Clarke had seen him alive.

She wasn’t able to take a full breath until she saw the long braid of her mother’s hair as she slipped into the room and stood at the back. The room was filled to the brim—all the government members were there, the chief engineers and the whole guard was there. She tried to find Bellamy but he was impossible to spot in the see of the beige caps. She was able to spot Wells, however. He was as his father’s side, looking serious and a little nauseous as he watched his father type furiously into to the computer at his desk.

After a few minutes, all the screens lit up and everyone went silent.

“We’ve located the nearest security post, the drone’s been deployed,” Clarke heard one of the techs report. “We’re gonna have the visual in 3, 2, 1—”

Finally, the static on the screen cleared and instead they all saw—well, mostly smoke at first. But as the drone flew closer and the smoke cleared, it became clear that it was in fact some sort of a dropship that must’ve only just landed – right in the middle of the forest inhabited by the Outsiders. Clarke swallowed thickly and blinked a few times, not believing her eyes. She could hear murmurs all around the room but they all turned into shouts when the doors of the ship opened and probably about a hundred kids ran outside, screaming their lungs out.

Clarke let out a ragged breath, suddenly painfully jealous of those children who were able to go outside without a care in the world. She jerked her head and looked to her mother. Abby’s mouth was open, like she was about to say something but instead, she was just staring at the screen in silence.

The drone flew higher, to avoid detection and circled the ship a few times but when it became clear that those kids were the only ones who could even fit inside and they seemed woefully unequipped, much less armed, the techs flew the drone back to its post and the screens went black again.

For about a minute, there were only murmurs in the room but finally, someone spoke out.

“We should eliminate them,” came the voice from the other side of the room and Clarke could see lieutenant Emerson making his way towards Jaha, his fists clenched at his sides, looking absolutely murderous. “We don’t know who they are and where they came from. For all we know, this is just a first wave and we’re about to face an invasion.” He was backed up by several voices from the crowd, even more people nodding their heads in agreement.

Clarke’s blood boiled.

“They’re just children!” she exclaimed, disbelieving. And then her eyes bulged out when everyone in the room looked at her and she realised that everyone had heard her.

Her mother and Jaha were both looking at her like she just grew a second head but she suddenly felt bold.

“There’s only one place they could’ve come from—space!” she insisted, pointing her finger at the ceiling for emphasis. “Probably the Russian station, judging by the flag on that ship. And I don’t think they launched themselves, which means that there are more people up there—more survivors. And you want to murder their children?!”

She walked up to Jaha and stood on Emerson’s right, shooting him a glare. He looked down at her with narrowed eyes and Clarke could’ve sworn he looked like he was calculating is he’d be able to strangle her before someone dragged him away. Clarke clenched her teeth and didn’t back down. Emerson was a first-grade dick and she wasn’t about to give in to him.

“Clarke, we don’t know if it’s safe,” Jaha finally spoke. She had to stop herself from snorting right in the President’s face.

“They. Are. _Kids_. Not one of them looks older than 18 and with how loud and careless they were, I don’t think they even suspect anyone’s around anymore. But there will be. If we saw them, the Outsiders must’ve done as well.”

“Good. Maybe they’ll solve that problem for us,” Emerson countered flippantly. Clarke’s head snapped sideways to look at him.

She looked at her mother again, who remained quiet. But the gears were turning in her head, Clarke could tell.

“Clarke’s right,” Abby finally said and ignored a wave of ‘ _of course you do_ ’s in response. She shot Jaha a look and turned toward the rest of the room to address them. “You’ve all seen them. We’ve watched them for almost an hour and they seemed completely unaffected by the atmosphere outside.”

Clarke frowned, not sure if she liked where her mother was going with this.

“If they, or the people who sent them here, have any way of fighting the radiations, we can’t let them slip through our fingers.” Abby explained and when Clarke looked around the room, she could see most of the people agreeing with her mother. Unfortunately, they were all the same people who grew up surviving on regular blood transfusions provided by the Harvest Project. Clarke wasn’t naïve enough to believe they wouldn’t revert back to it in a blink of an eye if they thought it could save them once and for all.

Abby opened her mouth again, most likely to explain to everyone how all those kids needed to be interrogated and tested, but Clarke didn’t let her speak.

“I’ll go to them,” she announced. Her mother’s back snapped straight, eyes going wide.

“Clarke,” Abby protested but Clarke shook her head.

“You need me—you need someone who could ask them the right questions, who can assess if they really aren’t suffering. Who else are you gonna send? Him?” Clarke pointed to Emerson. She barely even hesitated when she spared him a glance. The man was grinding his teeth so hard that she could see his jaw working. Somewhere at the back of her head, she recognised that she probably shouldn’t antagonise someone who was twice her size and filled with rage but she was all fired up now. “Besides, they’re much more likely to trust someone closer to their age that a squadron of soldiers.”

“No, honey, you can’t. You can’t just go in alone,” her mother argued, shooting hopeful glances at Jaha, who was just listening it so far. In the corner of her eye Clarke could see Wells take a step forward and now she worried, when she saw that he was clearly thinking of volunteering to go with her.

She shook her head almost imperceptibly. For all her bravado, her plan was insane and extremely dangerous. She couldn’t let her oldest friend risk his life on something so crazy. But as it turned out, she needn’t have worried because before Wells even opened his mouth, someone else spoke up from behind her.

Clarke didn’t have to turn around to check who it was, she could’ve recognised that voice anywhere.

“I’ll go with her,” Bellamy offered. Clarke didn’t dare look at him but she could hear him make his way to her and she could feel herself grow a little taller when he stood behind her, his reassuring presence filling her with newfound confidence.

Abby’s eyes darted between Clarke, Bellamy and Jaha. The President shrugged his shoulders lightly and nodded. Abby’s shoulders dropped and she huffed. Clarke smiled.

It was decided. They were going. 

***

Clarke was so focused on the landscape passing quickly through the windows of their rover that she didn’t hear Bellamy trying to get her attention. Only when they hit a particularly deep hole in the ground did she shook herself out and heard his voice.

His face was obscured by the helmet of his protective suit but she could still see his smirk through the visor.

“I do apologise if I’m not an entertaining enough company,” he teased, shooting her a quick grin. Clarke bit her lip and felt her cheeks warm up. She remembered how he’d help her with putting her suit on, when she suddenly became nervous about leaving home for this long and her hands started shaking. She didn’t want her mother to know, didn’t want to give her any reason to call this whole thing off, so when Bellamy noticed her nervousness and offered his help, she was so grateful she almost managed not to notice how his rough hands felt on the soft skin of her neck, when he brushed some of her hair away.

Clarke cleared her throat.

“I’m just—I don’t know. I’ve never been this far away from Mount Weather and never for this long, it’s a little scary,” Clarke explained and Bellamy hummed. “But on the other hand, it’s all so beautiful. It’s never this green when you watch it on a screen, isn’t it?”

“No, it’s not,” he agreed. “But give it some time, after a few hours in this suit, with the oxygen tank on your back, you’ll be sick of it all soon enough. When we were training outside, I could never make it more than a couple of hours without thinking of was how much I wanted to rip this helmet off my head.” Bellamy chuckled and Clarke felt herself join in.

She turned in her seat to be able to see him better. “Why did you come, if you hate it so much out here?”

Bellamy glanced at her sideways before looking back at the road ahead. “Because _someone_ had a bright idea to leave the safety of our home, sweet home, and go impose on a group of newcomers. And I was pretty sure if Jaha made you take Emerson or one of his friends with, you would’ve pushed them off the first cliff you saw.”

“What makes you think I’m not gonna push you?” Clarke protested, barely containing laughter.

“I like to think you would’ve missed my ruggedly handsome face and amazing sense of humour,” he answered, waving his hand around his head for emphasis and Clarke started laughing. They both did, so much so that Bellamy nearly drove right into a tree.

They sobered up after that and Clarke looked away, not sure what to say next. For all that they’ve grown so much closer over the last few months, they never really spent that much time alone and suddenly, Clarke grew nervous for a whole new reason.

“Why did you volunteer, then?” Bellamy’s voice broke the silence and Clarke relaxed a little. Back to safer topics, then. That she could handle.

“I saw them,” Clarke mused. “And then people were agreeing with Emerson that they all should be killed and all I could think was—they’re just kids. Not that younger than us.”

“And then I thought, if they die and there’s no-one up there, we’re gonna lose our last chance of survival.” Her breath hitched at the end of that sentence and Bellamy’s head snapped to her for a split second.

“What are you talking about?”

“Mount Weather is dying. We maybe have a few more year, a decade at most. We either need some miraculous solution to immunise us against the radiation or someone with technology more advanced and sophisticated than ours to help us fix the base. Otherwise—”

Bellamy huffed. “So, everything that my sister went through, that was all for nothing?!”

Clarke shrugged her shoulder lightly and shook her head to let him know she had no idea. Everyone in Mount Weather knew who Octavia Blake was. Her and Bellamy’s mother didn’t want her daughter to be treated with the transfusions from the Outsiders, claiming that all she needed to do was keep her safe and the girl would be fine – so she kept her in their flat, didn’t let her go to school or play with other kids, until her mother and brother became her whole world. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out quite as well as Aurora had hoped and by the time she died, Octavia was 14 and plagued by serious health issues.

After Jaha chased the Wallaces out of the office and the new treatment regimen was proven successful, Bellamy finally let them treat her. Octavia was never able to go back to full health, even by Mount Weather standards, but her recovery was so spectacular still, that to Jaha, she became the symbol of his victory. The living proof that his brilliant idea was working.

“They didn’t really have the choice, they had to shut down the Harvest program,” Clarke said. “Keeping that many people down there, maintaining the security, the amount of oxygen needed, it was a strain on all the systems, so when they finally figured out the doses, well. Jaha may have promoted this as some grand humane gesture towards the Outsider but in fact, it was just economics.”

Bellamy snorted. “The things you learn about your government.” Clarke nodded her head and they both went quiet for the rest of the journey.

They were only able to drive for a little while longer before the forest became too thick for the rover. Bellamy parked in the middle of the clearing, where the batteries could charge the best and they walked into the forest, carrying packs with some basic supplies. After almost an hour, they heard shouting and the closer they got, the louder the noises became. Bellamy quickened his pace and Clarke had to jog after him. She called out to him but obviously not loud enough, since he didn’t even react. She huffed and caught up to him.

Few more minutes and they finally saw the shiny metal of the dropship, peeking from between the trees. When they reached the treeline, they stopped while still out of the line of sight.

“Well, now or never,” Clarke decided and walked away from the trees and towards the ship. The kids managed to set up a camp around it, with tents and a fire pit. It was impressive.

This time, it was Bellamy’s turn to chase after her and they created enough of a commotion that they drew the attention of one of the kids, who started shouting and calling out for the others. Immediately, Bellamy’s hand flew to the gun he was carrying in his holster but Clarke pushed his hand away.

“What are you gonna do, shoot them all?” she admonished.

“If you hadn’t noticed, they outnumber us like 50 to 1, they could stomp up to death if they wanted to,” Bellamy countered but forgone the gun and kept on following Clarke.

“Well, then let’s not _make_ them want to do that!” Clarke proposed and she could practically hear Bellamy roll his eyes.

When they reached the closest tent, it seemed that the whole group had gathered, led by a boy wearing a beanie and sour expression.

“Who the hell are you?” the boy called out to them. Clarke stopped in her tracks and put her hands up so suddenly that Bellamy nearly walked straight into her. When he stepped up and stood by her side, she had to jerk her head at him to make him raise his hands up as well and reluctantly, he did.

Clarke took a step forward but froze when everyone in the camp tensed and she noticed one of the boys was holding a small axe. She blinked a few times and swallowed, trying to find her voice.

“We’re not here to hurt you, I promise! We’re coming from Mount Weather, we can help you!” Clarke offered and she relaxed a little. Some of the kids started talking excitedly and it seemed that they were interested but the boy in charge was still eyeing them, especially the gun at Bellamy’s side. He crossed his arms over his chest.

“How exactly can the two of you help the 100 of us?” the boy asked, eyes narrowed.

Clarke wanted to tell them that they brought some supplies but before she had the chance, there for shouting from the other side of the camp and two more boys came out from behind the trees, carrying a third one between them. When Clarke saw that the youngest boy was bleeding and unconscious, she ran up to him, as quickly as the suit and her heavy oxygen tank allowed. The boys carrying their friend nearly dropped him in surprise when they saw her but they managed to settle him down on the make-shift table before the one with floppy dark hair started talking.

“I was gonna say that we’re not here alone but clearly, that’s an understatement.” He stepped closer to Clarke, who was now too busy trying to assess the damage on the kid who, for some reason, was wearing goggles around his neck, that she didn’t even notice how close he got. In a moment, Bellamy was there, pushing him away and they landed opposite of each other.

The boy, completely undeterred by the fact that Bellamy was older and bigger than him, tried to get back to the table where Clarke was working but Bellamy placed himself firmly in front of her, keeping her shielded from the rest of the group.

The boy shook his head and combed his hair away from his eyes. “What the hell do you want from us, Grounder?”

***

Clarke rolled her eyes at the display of testosterone. The kid lying on the table was bleeding out from a hole in his chest and Bellamy was too busy asserting dominance over a teenager to help. She called his name—and then once again, before he turned around and pulled out her medkit from the bag. Quickly, she washed her gloved hands with the antiseptic wipes and got to work.

“What happened to him?” Clarke asked the other kid but he just rubbed his nose and pulled away. She huffed. Then, the boy on the table groaned in pain and started to wake up. She had to work fast. She removed the poultice covering the wound and breathed a little easier when she recognized the red seaweed. It seemed that it managed to keep the infection away but he still needed antibiotics and proper dressing.

Clarke glanced back at Bellamy who was again standing guard at her side and an annoying mix of fondness and frustration flooded her.

Suddenly, another boy ran out of the ship and knocked against the table. “Jasper? Are you alright?” he asked, sounding terrified. Clarke couldn’t blame him; neither one of the boys could have been more than 16. This was probably the worst thing that’s ever happened to them.

“Hey,” she called out, grabbing the other boy’s arm. He looked up from his friend and Clarke was glad to see she seemed to have most of his attention now. “I’m gonna need your help. What’s your name?”

“Uh, Monty,” the boy answered after a beat. Clarke introduced herself, pointed at the medkit and instructed Monty what to do. He gave her all the correct tools without a problem—he must’ve had at least some basic scientific knowledge. Clarke filed that information for later. She’d have to save his friend first, if she wanted his cooperation.

Monty hesitated only once, when she asked for a syringe but gave it to her when he recognized the medication she asked for along with it. When Clarke was redressing the wound, Monty dropped heavily onto an empty chair she hadn’t even noticed before.

“He was attacked by the Grounders. Were that you? Your people, I mean?” Monty asked quietly, looking at Clarke with fear in his eyes. But there was some curiosity in there, too.

Clarke shook her head. Her helmet didn’t move, so she couldn’t tell if Monty even saw it. She wished she could take this whole suit off but alas. Clarke grabbed a bottle of water she saw on the floor and washed Jasper’s blood off her gloves.

“No, it wasn’t us. The people you call ‘Grounders’, we call Outsiders. They’ve lived here almost since the bombs, we believe. We’re from Mount Weather.” She grabbed the poultice and showed it to Monty. “I think your friend was hit with a spear?” Monty nodded stiffly.

“He was speared and then they took him and used him as bait,” the boy with the long hair said, stepping around Bellamy, who shot him an annoyed look but allowed him to approach Clarke. The boy outstretched his hand and introduced himself as Finn Collins but dropped the hand when he noticed her still wet gloves, smiling sweetly instead. It she were his age, Clarke would probably find it charming.

Bellamy clearly didn’t, though. After scanning their surroundings, he moved to stand at her side, glaring at everyone around. Clarke had half the mind to laugh at him right here and there but she still remembered what he said about being trampled. For all that she wanted to make friends here, the longer the kids treated him seriously, the better.

Clarke wiped her gloved hands on her thighs, which hardly did anything. By then, the boy in the beanie stepped to the front of the crowd and mirrored Bellamy’s stance on Finn’s side. He probably had some sort of training, then. He looked at the two of them from top to bottom and clearly decided to lower his guard. His posture relaxed and he too greeted them with an outstretched hand, not bothered by Clarke’s wet gloves or Bellamy’s iron grip.

“I’m Miller and I’d very much appreciate if you guys kindly explained to us what the fuck was going on here, because we on the Ark were pretty fricking convinced that the Earth was unlivable.”

Clarke frowned. “But they sent you down here, anyway?”

A series of snorts and murmurs rolled through the crowd. A corner of Miller’s mouth jumped into a smirk.

“We are, how you call it, expendable,” he explained. His tone was purposefully light but he could help but clench his jaw. “The Ark, the space station that we came from, is basically falling apart and they’re running out of oxygen. So they decided to kill two birds with one stone. Or more like one hundred birds. We are the teenage delinquents, criminals headed for the execution, so obviously, we’re a waste of resources.”

Clarke’s breath caught in her throat.

“They dropped you down here to save oxygen?” she was horrified by this but at the same time, her head was spinning with one thought – if this Ark couldn’t save themselves, how are they gonna help _them_?

“And to see if it’s survivable down here,” added Finn. The boy raised his left arm up, showing a metal wrist band. Clarke guessed it was how the Ark was monitoring the kids.

“Your turn,” Miller prompted. “How come you’re wearing those suits.”

Bellamy shot Clarke a quick look, as if to warn her not to reveal too much.

“We saw your ship crashing two days ago,” Bellamy answered shortly, completely ignoring the question. When Miller raised his eyebrows, he gritted his teeth. Clarke smiled lightly. Clearly, Bellamy had met his match.

“We’ve lived inside the base this whole time, we’re more sensitive to the air outside,” she tried to be delicate but the kids still put two and two together and she could hear raised voices filling with panic, asking if they were safe. Monty got up from his seat and joined the conversation.

“What do you mean, sensitive?” he asked. Clarke could practically feel Bellamy’s gaze but she wanted to calm the kids down.

“The radiation outside makes us ill. But I don’t think you have to worry,” she assured them all. “You’ve been here for a couple of days already, I think for whatever reason, you might be immune.”

The murmurs in the group died down as they listened to her talking. Clarke breathed in slowly, thinking about their next move.

“We really are here to help you, to see if there’s anything you needed,” she offered and only felt a little bad about the half-truth. Sure, there was nothing more she wanted than to pick their brains about—well, everything. But it the state of their camp was anything to go by, those kids were woefully unprepared for Earth and they needed to be taken care of first. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have anyone left to talk to.

***

A couple of hours later, Clarke and Bellamy were back in the rover, two bags of supplies lighter and one radio short. In return, Clarke got a sample of Jasper’s blood and a much more detailed story of how and why were those children chosen for the experiment.

Bellamy drove in complete silence, and after a few miles, Clarke had had enough.

“Are you mad at me?”

Bellamy just huffed, which frankly, only pissed her off. “Is it about the supplies that we specifically took to give to them or that I gave them a radio and promised we’d always answer?”

“You told them too much,” he countered.

Clarke gasped. “About _what_?! It’s not like we could pretend that we’re wearing those protective suits because they’re just so damn comfortable. And they aren’t stupid, if I didn’t explain that we thought they were immune, they would’ve figured it out themselves, when if a few days they wouldn’t have started _dying_!”

Bellamy huffed again and Clarke threw her hands up in frustration. “I don’t know what your problem is, I swear.”

Suddenly, Bellamy slowed down, until they stopped in the middle of the road. Clarke looked at him, alarmed. And then she worried even more, when she noticed that he was slumped in his seat, looking resigned.

“You heard them, Clarke. Their home is dying, they all want to come down here. Who the hell knows how many people that will be. Or what kind of weapons will they bring. What if they decide that we’re an easy target? What if they make some sort of a deal with the Outsiders and join their coalition? We can’t fight them all.” He sounded so defeated that Clarke’ heart hurt.

The worst part was, he was right. All she could think of was the technology and the science they could bring with them but that was only a good thing if they wanted to help them with it. If they joined forced with the coalition, though—

Clarke put her hand on his elbow, prompting Bellamy to look at her.

“Well, the first thing the Outsiders did was try and kill one of them. We came with help and gifts, so I’d say, that one-naught for Mount Weather.” Clarke raised her other hand and punched the air with her fist. “Go team?”

Bellamy snorted so loudly that it must have reverberated inside his helmet. Clarke would’ve been embarrassed for the bad joke, only it worked. Bellamy’s shoulders started shaking and she knew he was laughing. Finally, he shook his head, looked at her fondly and rolled his eyes, before turning on the rover and pulling away.

***

The next several days, Clarke spent buried under textbooks and notes, studying for her exams, while her mother barely left the lab, running every test she could think of on Jasper’s blood. So far, she hadn’t been able to determine why were the kids immune to the Earth’s radiation, only that they were.

Clarke was trying not to think about how her mother kept saying that she needed more samples, how not so long ago, the Harvesting procedure was a part of the exam she was about to take and that all that equipment used hadn’t been destroyed.

Neither her nor Bellamy had told the kids about the security posts they had set up in the forest or the surveillance drones, so Jaha and the rest of the council were still able to check up on them. According to Wells, the camp was more like something pulled out of one of those pre-bombs teen drama shows than a security risk but his father wanted to keep an eye on the kids, see what kind of a relationship they were developing with the Outsiders and if they were still in contact with the Ark.

It seemed that Bellamy wasn’t the only one worried that the newcomers might try and seek alliance with the Outsiders. The whole council was already making plans for when they all join forces and attack and it seemed that the only thing calming them down was the fact that it looked like the Outsiders were preparing for the very same thing. The clan messengers were spotted travelling between camps and for all they knew, they were planning on taking out the kids first.

The tensions were running high in Mount Weather so when two days later, another ship dropped from the sky, they were all invited back to the crisis room, to discuss options. Luckily, Clarke didn’t have to sneak in this time. As the only two people who had spoken to the kids, she and Bellamy were invited to the front of the room and ask for opinions.

Standing next to him now, watching the footage of a tiny pod speeding towards the ground and then disappearing into the forest, was the closest and longest Clarke had been with him since they came back to Mount Weather. His schedule had changed and she had taken a few weeks off to study, so their best excuse to spend time together was no longer an option.

She’d catch him sometimes in the corridor or the mess hall and they’d talk about the radio that they had left with Miller but since theirs remained silent, that was always a short conversation. And then one or both of them had to run somewhere else and for almost two weeks now, that had been that. They were both so busy lately that they barely had the time to talk and for her part, Clarke found herself missing him like crazy.

After months of growing closer, they were practically back to being strangers again and it hurt

But this wasn’t the time to ponder on her disappointing social life. This was the moment when Emerson needed to be talked down from launching a full-fledged assault on a hundred teenagers armed with sticks and axes.

“President Jaha, be realistic, this situation is spinning out of control,” Emerson was shouting, waving his hand at the screens. They were playing the security footage from one of the drones now, of the kids dividing into groups and setting out in search of the pod. None of the security posts had registered the pod, which meant that it must’ve landed deep into the Woods Clan territory.

“Judging by the size of the pod, it couldn’t have carried more than two, maybe three people,” one of the techs, Maya, said. Jaha nodded his head at the information and turned to Emerson.

“Lieutenant, I understand your concern but I don’t think it’s necessary to raise this sort of an alarm just yet. According to miss Griffin and officer Blake, the kids hadn’t been able to establish contact with their Ark, maybe this is just another scouting ship, carrying noting more than a radio,” Jaha mused. Clarke stared at him in surprise. She didn’t expect Jaha to be this calm and unconcerned about the delinquents. But then, she caught a smile on Wells’ face and she huffed a silent chuckle. It looked like everything she’d told to Wells, all her worries about those children getting hurt, he’d told to his father and managed to convince him that there was no need to treat the delinquents as a threat just yet.

Emerson, however, disagreed. “For all we know, President, those little criminals lied to your gullible princess about not being able to call home and that pod is filled with guns or other weapons of mass destruction.”

Clarke opened her mouth to protest being caller gullible _or_ a princess but she’d been she was silenced but Bellamy’s laud snort.

“Do you honestly believe that anyone would’ve been stupid enough to have done _that_?” he asked, coming up against Emerson. “You’ve seen the surveillance footage, they are just dumb kids! None of them older than 18 and condemned to die – and you think the people who wouldn’t even spare them some basic first aid materials or preserves, would arm them all of a sudden?”

Bellamy crossed his arms over his chest and stared Emerson down, while the rest of people in the room started talking amongst themselves. Clarke didn’t really pay attention to them, though. Her eyes were glued to the stand-off between Emerson and Bellamy, and she was too busy getting stupidly excited about it. Sure, it probably wasn’t the smartest thing for Bellamy to do, to stand up to a superior officer like that. But seeing him standing so tall and confident, Clarke felt herself ridiculously attracted to him right now.

She shook her head, trying to dispel the image of Bellamy pressing her against the wall right now and kissing her in front of everybody. She pressed her fingers over her cheek, hoping the blush she was feeling wasn’t too visible, and stepped forward, standing at Bellamy’s side.

He looked at her briefly, when he felt her elbow brush against his and Clarke noticed the corner of his mouth raise in a hint of a smile. She returned the smile before looking at Emerson and then beyond him, at Jaha.

“Mr. President, Bellamy’s right. Most of those kids didn’t even want to talk to the Ark and I believe that sentiment is mutual. Beyond finding out if the Earth is survivable, whoever is in charge up there didn’t seem to care if they die from starvation, infection or cold, as long as it wasn’t radiation,” Clarke explained. Bellamy nodded in support.

Jaha hummed and rubbed his chin, deep in thought. Clarke relaxed, seeing that Jaha was almost smiling at her. She knew that expression very well, she’d seen it on him and Wells a lot over the years, it was the Jahas classic “I agree with you but I don’t want you to think it was that easy to convince me” face. And apparently, Emerson figured it out as well, because he narrowed his eyes, looking between Jaha and herself, and then his shoulders dropped.

“Well, then, if you value the opinions of those two,” he pointed to her and Bellamy dismissively, “more than that of your guard, then I suppose I’m no longer needed in here, am I?” Emerson fumed, his face growing more and more red by the second. He stormed out of the crisis room, slamming his fist on the door-release button so hard he nearly broke it.

A chill ran down Clarke’s spine as she watched Emerson leave the room. She had a really bad feeling about him.

***

The very next night, Clarke woke up well past lights out by a crackling and a distorted voices coming from the radio she’d put on her desk. She was roused from a strange dream but it was quickly forgotten when she recognised Monty and Jasper shouting over each other, calling her name.

She scrambled out of the bed and grabbed the radio. “Hello? Are you guys okay?”

“No!” Monty yelled, the radio crackling and Clarke had to adjust the volume so she could understand what the boys were saying. “Finn—stabbed by the Grounders!—stomach! ”

Clarke’s breath hitched. “Is the knife still in?”

“Yeah, he’d bleeding like crazy, we didn’t touch anything,” Monty explained. Clarke nodded her head before she remembered they couldn’t see her.

“Okay, that’s good. Pack the wound with the bandages I left you but don’t remove the knife or he’ll bleed out. I’ll be there as soon as I can,” she promised.

There was some more interference before she heard Jasper again. “Please, hurry. He’s running hot and sweaty. And he won’t wake up!”

Clarke scrambled as she got dressed and ran out of her flat, grabbing her med bag on the way out. She ran straight to Bellamy’s and banged on his door until it opened and she saw a young, dark-haired woman, sending her a stink eye. There was a twinge of jealousy, low in her belly, until the woman made a face that reminded Clarke so much of Bellamy that it was almost cute. His sister, then.

“Is Bellamy here?” she asked and Octavia turned back and called out for her brother.

A few moments later, Bellamy stalked towards the door and Clarke had to stifle a smile. He was wearing a rumpled t-shirt and low-handing soft pants. His hair was plastered to one side of his head and on the other side, his curls were sticking out in all directions. He was blinking sleep away when he noticed Clarke and then he immediately sobered up.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, voice rough. Clarke tried to ignore how seeing him like that made heat pool in her belly and how disappointing it was that he clearly believed that the only reason she might visit him was that something had happened. But this was not the time to focus on that because something most definitely had gone wrong.

“Monty called,” Clarke said. Octavia immediately woke up to and started asking questions. Bellamy waved her off and nodded at Clarke to continue. “I don’t know what exactly happened but one of the kids was hurt and I need to go there, help them.”

Bellamy shook his head, still processing. “It’s the middle of the night,” he said as if that was a good argument against the trip but at the same time, he was already back inside his flat, grabbing his jacket. It was then that he remembered he was still wearing his pyjamas. “Give me a sec,” he grumbled and disappeared into the other room.

The next couple of minutes, Clarke and Octavia spent looking each other up and down in silence. Abby’s treatment program wasn’t perfect and it couldn’t save them in the long run but it was no wonder that Jaha wanted practically to parade Octavia during all official festivities, it really had worked wonders on her. Still, she remained a bit of an outcast, not used to the crowds.

When Clarke caught the woman’s gaze, there was a glint in her eyes and all-too-familiar smirk on her face, and Clarke wasn’t entirely sure that she wanted to know what that was all about. Before she could figure out if she wanted to ask, Bellamy was back and following Clarke to the garage.

“Does your mother know about this?” he asked, catching up to her. “Does Jaha?”

Clarke didn’t answer, just walked faster. She heard Bellamy huff, annoyed. They were at the garage door when she stopped and turned around to face him.

“Clarke,—“

“Look,” she interrupted. “No-one knows about this, there is no time. And I’m sorry for dragging you into this again. I would go by myself but I can’t—well, I can’t drive and it’s too far for me to walk.”

“Out of the question!” Bellamy protested. Clarke wanted to argue but she spoke first. “There’s no way in hell you’re going out there alone,” he said, decidedly. There was a blush blooming on Clarke’s cheeks and she was suddenly very grateful that at this hour, the corridors were only barely lit by nightlights.

“I’d just rather not get charged with stealing government property here.” He was teasing now and Clarke smiled. 

“Don’t worry, I still remember all the codes. We can be back before anyone notices we’ve gone.”

Bellamy blew out an exasperated breath. “Somehow, that doesn’t make me feel any better,” he said but he opened the garage door and headed to the radiations suits without another complaint.

They suited up and were on their way as soon as possible. They drove into the night and the whole way there, Clarke was wriggling in her seat, impatient. They drove much further into the forest this time, now more familiar with the terrain, and then practically ran to the camp. When they reached the clearing, Miller was already waiting for them and led them inside the ship, where Finn was laying on a table and on his, there was a girl with her dark hair in a high pony tail, holding his hand tightly. She jumped up when she saw them enter and placed herself in front of Finn, protectively.

“It’s okay, Raven,” Miller tried to calm her down. “They’re here to help.”

The girl stared them down for a breath longer, her jaw clenched, but she stepped aside and allowed them closer without a word. Clarke came to the table and instructed Bellamy on what to do. He was still eyeing everyone around suspiciously, but at least this time, he came to her aid without too much prodding.

It was hard work, with the thick gloves on, but Clarke was able to remove the knife and stitch up the wound. As soon as she was finished, Bellamy suggested that they should go back to Mount Weather but Clarke couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. Enough time has passed and Finn should’ve at least stirred by now but he remained stubbornly unconscious and was running a high fever, even despite the antibiotics that Clarke had given him.

She checked the wound again but it didn’t seem to be leaking.

And then, she had another idea.

“The knife he’d been stabbed with, where is it?” she asked and looked around. Miller picked the weapon from the floor and gave it to her. Clarke washed the blood off of it and showed it to Bellamy. He took one look at the knife and sent her a knowing look.

“Shit,” Clarke muttered but loud enough for Raven to hear. The girl let go of Finn’s hand and rushed to Clarke’s side.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, alarmed.

Clarke pointed to the markings on the knife’s hilt. “You see that? Those markings belong to the Woods Clan, they’re the symbols of their warriors.”

“Meaning what?”

“I think this blade’s been poisoned,” Clarke explained, voice barely making it through the ball that had formed in her throat. She shot a glance at the boy at the table, who was now sweating and shaking lightly.

“Well, help him, then!” Raven demanded. “Like you fixed Jasper.”

“Jasper was hit with a hunting spear,” Bellamy interjected but Raven only spread her arms to show she didn’t understand what that meant. “The Woods Clan can’t poison those or any meat they’d get wouldn’t be edible. But this,” he explained pointing to the knife, “that’s a tool designed to kill – if not with the injury itself, then with the poison.”

“Can you help him?” Miller asked from behind the room. His voice was steady and he was standing tall but Clarke could see the fear in his eyes.

“I can’t.” Clarke shook her head and looked to Bellamy. He caught his eye and raised his eyebrow, questioning. She nodded her head. Bellamy opened his mouth but ultimately didn’t say anything, just nodded back. “Not here, I don’t have what I need.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?!” Raven was on the brink of breaking, Clarke could see her hands were shaking while she tried to regain composure.

“Well, assuming whoever stabbed Finn didn’t leave instructions and an antidote, I need to take him back to Mount Weather,” Clarke explained. Raven’s brow furrowed. “We’ve studied those poisons and we have antidotes back there. Without knowing exactly which one it is, it’s still a bit of a gamble but it’s his best chance.”

Raven chewed on the information for a minute. Then, she nodded her head once, short. “Let’s go, then.”

Bellamy straightened and cleared his throat. He looked between the two women and Clarke had no doubt he was about to protest. Bringing in an injured kid was one thing, bringing his conscious companion would definitely be frowned upon. Clarke shot him a begging look, hoping he’d understand how desperate she was to save Finn. And he did. With a resigned huff he dropped his shoulders and waved Miller over.

“Come one, you’re gonna help me carry him,” he instructed gruffly but then, he sent Clarke and exasperated but surprisingly fond look above everyone else’s heads. She couldn’t help but smile. Just a little.

***

Once they loaded Finn into the back of the rover, Clarke and Raven sat with him in the back, and Bellamy rushed to drive them back to Mount Weather. They found the road back and Clarke breathed a little easier. Finn was still in a bad shape but when Bellamy called it in and her mother promised to keep the medical ready and waiting for them, she was starting to hope that they could actually save him again.

Clarke looked at Raven, who was back to clutching Finn’s hand, whispering to him to hold on. When she placed a kiss on the boy’s lips, so intimate that it could only mean one thing, Clarke frowned. Ever since the kids had landed and they started keeping an eye of them, Clarke had seen Finn flirt with pretty much every girl in the camp. She could only guess what other things she hadn’t seen.

Raven must’ve noticed Clarke’s expression because she sighed and slumped in her seat. She looked at Clarke like she knew exactly what she was thinking about.

“Yeah, I know that he’s not exactly the paragon of virtue and fidelity, but—“ Raven ran her hand over Finn’s forehead, brushing his hair away, “he’s all I’ve got, he’s family.” She hummed. “A while ago, I did something stupid and I should’ve been arrested for it. But I was already 18, so I would’ve been floated—executed,” she clarified, seeing Clarke’s confusion. “He was still a minor, though.”

“So he turned himself in instead?” Clarke guessed.

“Yeah. And a few months later, he was sent down here, to get stabbed while trying not to die from—Earth.” Raven chuckled humourlessly. “He loves it here, though. He’s always dreamt big, you know.”

Clarke smiled a tight-lipped smile, a sense of guild overcoming her.

“Raven, I have to tell you something.”

The girl looked at her confused. Clarke caught Bellamy’s eye in the rear-view mirror and swallowed thickly.

“When we get there, my mother will want to test him. Extensively.”

“So?”

Clarke hesitated. “I assume Miller told you everything he knew about us?” Raven nodded.

“Well, we’re still trying to figure out how exactly are you immune and if we could be as well,” Clarke tried to say it as diplomatically as possible. Raven frowned for another split second before she stiffened and all blood drained from her face.

“You wanna experiment on him?! Like hell I’m gonna let you!” she yelled. Clarke moved from her seat and closer to the girl.

“No! Not on him, but we’ll need samples and my mother, she’s our chief medical officer, she’s been hopeful after testing Jasper’s blood.” Clarke was rambling then, but she didn’t know what to say to calm Raven down. She was still fuming.

“No, I won’t let you touch him,” she declared. Clarke was ready to beg and plead, worried what Raven would do to keep them away from Finn. But then, Raven looked her straight in the eye. “I’ll give you all the samples you’ll need and as soon as he’s good to go, we’re leaving.”

Clarke took a deep breath and smiled in thanks. But the open Raven was gone. Her jaw was clenched now and Clarke knew that if she wanted even a little of her trust back, she’d have to work for it.

***

True to her word, Raven provided Abby with as many samples as the doctor could think of, all the while Finn was laying on the bed next to her, recovering. Clarke was relieved beyond words when her mother recognised the symptoms at once and gave Finn the right antidote.

Soon after that, she’d taken Clarke on the side and yelled at her for ten minutes, about how reckless it was to leave in the middle of the night and bring back someone from the outside, who couldn’t have gone through the proper decontamination procedure. Luckily, she was also so glad that Bellamy had been there to watch her back that she promised to make sure he wouldn’t get in trouble.

And besides, it really wouldn’t have looked good on anyone to punish them too harshly for bringing back a possible cure for everyone. Their research was kept in absolute confidence but Clarke could see that the more tests they had run, the more optimistic they became.

Until they finally figured it out.

***

Seeing how Clarke had already been in on the secret, Jaha let her attend the meeting of the council, where she and Abby presented the results of their tests. The room went quiet for the longest time when they finished and the mood turned sombre. Everyone in that room had worked their asses off to convince and educate the Mount Weather citizens that the Harvest project was a barbaric practice that they didn’t need only to be faced with this news after all this time.

When the meeting was over, Clarke found Bellamy standing outside the council room. He must’ve been waiting for her because as soon as he saw her, he waved her over, anticipation written all over his face. Clarke led him to an empty corridor.

“Well, there’s good news and bad news,” she said, a sour smile twisting her mouth. “We’ve found a way to cure us all.”

“What’s the bad news?”

“That _is_ the bad news.” Clarke saw Bellamy’s confusion and continued. “With all the test and everything that Raven had told us, they’re born immune. It’s about the radiation in space and the solar flares. We found that their blood would heal us even better than the Outsiders’ did. But it’s the marrow, that would save us.”

Bellamy’s face fell as he understood the implication of her words.

“How much—”

“For all of us? All of them. And that may not even be enough.”

Bellamy sagged against a wall. “Do Raven and Finn know?”

“We didn’t exactly announce it but she’s terrifyingly brilliant so I assume she’ll figure it out eventually. If she hadn’t already.” Clarke leaned against the wall next to Bellamy, their shoulder touching. She closed her eyes and breathed out a tired breath.

“What do we do now?”

She opened her eyes and looked at sideways at Bellamy. “We let them go. We promise supplies, protection from the Outsiders and all of our firstborns and then we beg for help.” She shrugged, resigned. “We can’t drain children of their born marrow, we just—we can’t do that.”

“Yeah, tell that to everyone who voted against Jaha and threatened rebellion when he let out all the Outsiders.” Bellamy sounded just as defeated as she felt.

They stood side by side, silently, for a few more minutes. Then, Clarke looked down at her father’s watch and sighed.

“I gotta go back to studying. I still have my exams soon,” she announced. It felt surreal, going back to her normal life like she hadn’t just had her whole life turned upside down.

“Shouldn’t you be certified already, with all that field experience you’ve gotten recently?” Bellamy joked, trying to lighten the mood. It fell a little flat but Clarke still snorted lightly.

“Would you believe that rogue missions don’t really count?” She grinned at him and Bellamy chuckled back.

“Must be why I still haven’t been promoted.”

Clarke chuckled, her spirits now lifted, just a little bit. “Yeah, must be.” They smiled at each other. “And apparently, my stitches still need work, too. And the fact that I was operating in a protective suit with barely any light isn’t an excuse.” She shook her head in mock disbelief. Bellamy nodded in commiseration.

Clarke looked him in the eye and felt her whole body grow hotter under his gaze. She cleared her throat and excused herself before she could do something stupid.

Like maybe close the distance between them and kiss him.

***

Clarke was almost at the library, when someone grabbed her elbow and yanked her back. In the split second, she registered the pain of having her shoulder almost ripped out of its socket, before a hand landed roughly over her mouth with a slap. She tried shouting out in protest but barely a whimper came out.

She looked down to see the white shirt of a guard’s uniform. Confusion overcame her until her attacker brought their mouth to her ear and she heard a voice that froze the blood in her veins.

“Shut up, or I’ll snap your neck right here and now,” Emerson threatened, dragging her backward, down the corridor.

Her brain was screaming at her in panic to do something, to get herself out of Emerson’s grip but no matter how much Clarke struggled, she couldn’t do anything. Emerson’s fingers were digging so hard into her arm that she was almost sure he’s gonna break a bone and the hand over his mouth was so close to her nose that Clarke could barely breathe. The fact that her heart was hammering in her chest so hard that she could barely hear what he was saying wasn’t helping either.

“You little bitch, choosing those dirty criminals over our own people,” Emerson spat at her. “You thought no-one was gonna know about your little secret meeting but you should know by now, not to underestimate me.”

Clarke tried clawing at his forearm but it was like he was so fuelled by anger, he was practically immune to pain. She stumbled over her feet but Emerson’s firm grasp kept her upright and they were still moving.

“You go out there, wasting _our_ resources on them, instead of making sure that we survive. We’re the ones who deserve to go outside, not _them_. Even their own people decided they were a waste of space and you what? You chose them over us? Over my children? Who gave you the right?!”

Emerson’s grasp over Clarke’s face tightened even more, restricting air flow even further. Clarke’s head started to spin and black spots clouded her vision.

“You’re gonna help me now,” Emerson announced and in the corner of her eye, she saw that he has one of the Level 2 key cards hanging on a lanyard. The warehouses, where the harvesting equipment was stored. She struggled even harder and Emerson laughed into her ear. “You figured it out, didn’t you? Yeah, you’re gonna drain your new friends dry for me and then you’ll fix me and my family, so we can leave. And then, who knows. Maybe if you behave, we won’t leave all the doors open on our way out.”

With the last of her strength, Clarke fought against Emerson, but it was no use. Her scream was nothing more than a whisper and by then, she felt like she was on the edge of consciousness. Even more so, because she could’ve sworn she heard Bellamy’s voice, calling her name. But that was impossible, he was back at work and not around the library.

Only then, she felt something hard collide with them, knocking Emerson out of balance long enough for him to loosen his grip on her and for Clarke to wiggle her way out of his grasp. She landed on the floor, her knees hitting the cold, hard concrete, sending pain all throughout her body. At the last moment, she managed to catch herself before she hit her head on the floor. She rolled onto her back and looked back at Emerson.

Her heart nearly stopped when she saw a mop of dark curls and then the rest of Bellamy’s body, wrapped in a death grip with Emerson, struggling to get the upper hand. Clarke called his name but it came out just a rasp. She cried out when Emerson knocked his elbow into the side of Bellamy’s head, making him stumble and fall down on the floor, not moving.

Within seconds, Emerson was back at her, only now there were fury and murder in his eyes. He wrapped his arms over her neck and squeezed.

“You fuckers!” he shouted, no longer caring about staying hidden. “You won’t stop me! If I have to rip their limbs out and suck the marrow myself, I won’t let them go!”

Clarke arms and legs were flailing. She was trying to shove him off of her but with air running out, she didn’t have the strength. Then, her left arm fell down to her side and he fingers brushed against something small, thin but hard.

_Her pencil_. It must’ve fallen out of her pocket when she fell down. She wiggled her fingers and then wrapped them around the pencil. She could barely see Emerson anymore, her vision darkening, so she just stabbed.

He roared in pain and let go of her neck. She didn’t even know where she fit him but it didn’t matter. She took a breath of precious air and started coughing, while Emerson ripped the pencil out and threw it away, the sound of wood hitting concrete louder than anything Clarke had ever heard.

She saw Emerson wrap his bloody fingers into a fist but before he could deliver the blow, she heard footsteps. Far away at first but approaching quickly. She didn’t know if someone had heard them or if one of the cameras caught the commotion after all, but she didn’t care. All that mattered was that Emerson had heard them as well. It gave him enough pause that she was able to shield her head from him. He ended up hitting her at her ribs, knocking the wind out of her once again.

And then, he was gone. Two guard dragged him off of her, while the third took out a pair of handcuffs and shackled Emerson into submission.

Blood was rushing into her ears and Clarke could only guess that the guards were asking if she was okay. She nodded weakly and rolled on the floor, raised to her hands and knees and crawled over to where Bellamy still laid. He was moving now, which Clarke took as a good sign. Still, as soon as she got to him, she took his head in his hands and tried to look for damage.

It seemed that he was more confused than anything. Clarke tried to speak but her throat was sore from the abuse she’d sustained and she ended up just coughing again. She helped Bellamy get up into a sitting position and she practically ended in his lap, his arms wrapped around her waist. He was looking her over, worry written all over his face.

“I’m fine,” she croaked finally. Then, one of his hands move from the small of her back to her face. He lingered before he touched her, giving her the chance to move away if she didn’t want it but instead, she nuzzled his palm, when he finally placed it over her cheek, the warmth of her skin finally bringing her a little peace, making her feel safe.

***

Emerson was dragged to a holding cell kicking and screaming. Clarke still had some trouble breathing and the guard left behind offered to take her back to medical, while she was slumped against the wall, her eyes closed.

“It’s okay, Lovejoy, I’ll take her.” She heard Bellamy’s voice before he gently put his hand on her shoulder to get her attention. Clarke looked up and took his offered hand.

They walked down the corridor slowly and Clarke knew that it was just as much for her benefit as it was for his. Bellamy was taking slow, measured steps, and Clarke made a note to check him up for concussion.

All the way there, Bellamy’s hand was hovering over the small of her back and the warmth made Clarke smile shyly.

When they got to the labs, Abby was already there, running out to meet them. She gave Clarke a quick check up, poking and prodding, and sighing every time Clarke assured her that she was okay. Finally, Abby announced that she had to go, meet up with Jaha and the rest of the council – and then, they were left alone.

Bellamy was standing by the door, one shoulder against the wall, like he was trying to hide that he needed the support. Clarke looked at him and waved him over. She sat him down on the exam table and tired her best to be gentle as she brushed her fingers over the bruise forming an the side of his head.

Clarke leaned closer, to see if there was anything more than that. She brushed his hair away delicately, the soft curls slipping through her fingers and the feeling of his breath on the side of her neck send made a coil at the bottom of her stomach tighten. She swallowed but stayed where she was, determined to stay focused on the task at hand.

She was almost done with her check-up, when someone appeared in the doorway.

“Blake!” Lovejoy called out and at the sound of his name, Bellamy looked up and to his left—moving his head just enough for his mouth to brush against Clarke’s.

She froze at first, and it seemed, so did Bellamy. They were still so close, that when Clarke opened her mouth in a gasp, her bottom lip brushed against Bellamy’s again. His eyes snapped up to hers, his gaze so dark and intense that Clarke’s heart skipped a beat. She breathed through her mouth and in a split second, their lips met again.

This time longer, deliberate. Clarke’s mouth was still open and she groaned when Bellamy sucked at her bottom lip.

She was about to do something crazy, like throw her arms around his neck or maybe crawl into his lap right there and then, but before her body had the chance to make that decision, she heard someone clear their throat and the both stilled. Clarke stepped away so quickly, as is she’s been burned. And maybe she had been, her lips certainly felt like they were on fire, her blood was boiling and her skin was electrified.

Both her and Bellamy looked over to where Lovejoy was standing, politely not looking at them at all. Clarke’s eyes dropped to her shoes immediately, embarrassed, but the corner of her eye, she saw that Bellamy’s face looked a couple of shades redder that it normally was. A small kernel of pride made its way to the surface, fighting against the discomfort of being caught in such an intimate moment.

But before she could look back up and at Bellamy, he was already off the table and combing his hair, looking somewhat chagrined. Then, he sent her a powerless glance, mouthed “sorry” and left with Lovejoy, the two men talking about how he needed to provide a statement about what had happened with Emerson.

Clarke had half the mind to call after them, to remind them that she was the one attacked after all and maybe they wanted to hear what she had to say, too. But when she touched her cheek, still burning and no doubt redder than a tomato, she was actually glad to have been left alone.

She wasn’t sure she’d be able to compose one single coherent thought right now.

***

The rest of the day passed in a blur.

At some point, Clarke had been asked for her recount of what had happened and luckily, that went easily enough. No-one doubted her words, not with Emerson still threatening her as they dragged him away, and certainly not with the fresh bruises blossoming onto her still tender neck.

As soon as Clarke was released by the council, she wanted to go and look for Bellamy, though she wasn’t entirely sure what would she say to him. That kiss was—

Well, it was an accident at first, obviously. But what followed, that was passionate and intimate, and purposeful like hardly anything she’d ever experienced in her whole life. It made her head spin in the most delicious of ways but at the same time, it also dropped a brick down her insides. Because Clarke could admit that at least a part of the courage she’d found to follow through with the kiss was because she was still running on adrenaline—and maybe some oxygen deprivation. What if that was just that for Bellamy? Heat of the moment, lucky to be alive, once and done type of a deal? Did she really want to find out for sure? In the middle of all that was happening?

Clarke never got the chance to dwell on that for too long. Before she could ever really think about where to look for Bellamy, another air raid alarm rang through Mount Weather.

Clarke turned around and sped back to the council room. When she opened the door, she wasn’t greeted with the radar data but instead, the thermal camera feed from the forest surrounding TonDC.

“Did another dropship landed?” she asked, entering the room.

Jaha barely spared her a glance before he was looking back at the screen. “We don’t know yet but even if, they’re a worry for another time.” He enlarged the image and now, Clarke could see large spots moving around. People. A lot of them. And if they were seeing this footage now, they must already be marching.

“We just got word that had Anya called in for reinforcements and now she’s got at least 300 warriors under her command, and they’re all coming at the dropship.”

Clarke swallowed thickly. Even if they took the rovers, they could maybe make it to the camp before the army, since TonDC was much closer than Mount Weather. But even then, that would still leave an army against now maybe 80 unprepared and unarmed children and possibly a handful of guards who had to stay at arm’s length, to avoid having their suits damaged.

Her breath hitched as she watched the clumps of people move out of frame at alarming speed.

“We have to help them,” she half-whispered. Her mother sighed in resignation and sat down heavily on her chair.

“Clarke,”

“Mom, it’ll be a bloodshed!”

“Honey, we aren’t strong enough to fight an army like that. We don’t even have enough resources to arm them, if that was an option.”

Clarke looked between the councilmembers. For their credit, they all looked upset enough to make her believe that they actually cared. Still, they were all nodding in agreement with Abby. And the worst part was, Clarke couldn’t even fault them for this because everything her mother had said was true. And every word had broken off a tiny piece of Clarke’s heart. If there was only some way for those kids to defend themselves, if only that dropship had been equipped with _something_ they could use—

Well, there was the ship.

“Mom, can you at least sent out a rescue mission? They have a place to hide, maybe some of them could make it.”

Abby and Jaha looked at each other before Jaha pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes, thinking.

“I can give you two trucks and one patrol,” he offered. Clarke smiled, grateful, but Jaha raised his hand to stop her. “They won’t be ready quickly enough to make a difference in the fight, Clarke, and I can only allow them to take a handful of weapons.”

“That’s okay, thank you.” Clarke smiled and backed out of the room. She took a deep breath and hummed. “I think I have an idea.”

***

Clarke ran down to Level 5, where Raven and Finn were transferred while he recovered. She was planning on taking Raven to the control room, but when she entered one of the dorms, it turned out that the girl had already thought of that.

She and Finn were both huddled over a radio that looked like it had been thrown together from scraps but at least it was working. Clarke could hear someone talking, while Raven and Finn listened with devastated expressions.

Then, Raven grabbed the radio in her hand and started shooting out rapid fire instructions.

“Harper, I only managed to finish some of the mines but if you bury them at proper intervals, they should at least do some damage. The bombs were too unstable, so I made a box of hand grenades but do _not give_ them to anyone who doesn’t have a steady hand.”

“How many bullets are there left?” Harper asked. Clarke’s eyebrows shot up. Bullets? Did the kids have any guns after all?

“Maybe a hundred but don’t spread them around,” Raven answered, scratching her head. Finn took her hand and squeezed lightly for support. Raven sent him a sour smile.

“Yeah, I know, Miller picked out some gunners. It turns out, only five of those riffles are really dependant, so they’ll taking sniper’s post,” came Harper’s crackling answer.

Raven nodded, not realising that the other girl couldn’t see her. Clarke could tell that the conversation was coming to an end, so before they hang up, she stepped further into the room.

“Wait!” she called out, loud enough for Harper to hear her, too. She startled Raven into dropping the radio onto the bed. Both she and Finn looked up at her in surprise but her expression must’ve been telling enough that they didn’t question her presence.

“You said you were making bombs, I assume you were using whatever fuel you found in your dropship? Do you have any of it left?” Clarke asked, looking at Raven. The girl nodded with a frown, but Clarke could see gears turning in her head.

“Yeah, there’s plenty, sure. But that piece of junk isn’t gonna blast off and fly out of the camp,” Raven joked but it fell flat.

Clarke sat down on the bed next to Finn. “I don’t want you to lift off, just fire the rockets once your people are safely inside the dropship.”

Raven opened her mouth and then it twisted into a cocky smile. “A ring of fire to fry the Grounders, I like it.” She grabbed the radio again. “Harper, get me Monty and Jasper, quickly. And maybe Fox, she seems small enough to fit and smart enough to follow instructions. I gotta talk them into wiring that piece of junk for a launch.”

***

The next couple of hours were tense. The guard patrol needed to be assembled and deployed, the trucks needed to be prepared to possibly carry wounded, and by the time the convoy was leaving Mount Weather, Clarke’s nerves were in tatters. 

At least she got to see Bellamy, for all of two minutes. He was the first one to volunteer to go out and while her mother wasn’t sure about letting him go after the injury he sustained, she finally caved when Bellamy reminded her that aside from Clarke, he was the only one the kids knew and since all communications stopped, causing Raven and Finn to pace up and down their bedroom, there was no way to warn the delinquents that they were coming.

Finally, the trucks had left. And for the next five hours, Clarke hadn’t left the garage, waiting for their return.

It was almost dawn, when both trucks rolled in but they weren’t as full as Clarke expected them to be. Once she, her mother and the rest of the medical team, all suited up for protection, sent the newcomers to decontamination, Clarke caught up to Bellamy.

“48,” he said, before she even had the chance to open her mouth. “None of them with any major injuries but that’s all that we were able to find.”

Clarke swallowed. There was ash all over Bellamy’s suit and she knew that her plan had worked. Where that ash came from.

“It was a good idea,” Bellamy said, firmly. He wrapped his gloved had around her wrist and even though she could barely feel it through all the protective layers, she appreciated the gesture. She doubted he could see her small, unsure smile, so she brought her other hand to his, fitting her fingers between his as much as it was possible with the gloves and the uncomfortable angle.

They stood like that only for a moment. Soon, Bellamy had been called away and ordered into a decontamination shower and Clarke went to join her mother at the med bay.

Later, when the kids were all patched up, fed and taken to join Raven and Finn on Level 5, the council had met again. And they had another worry on their plates because more ships have indeed landed – scattered all around the Outsiders’ territories and if the markings on the largest and closest one were any indication, there weren’t just ships. They were the station itself, broken into pieces.

As their chief engineer explained, that the Ark most likely decided to break into the original stations in order to pass through the atmosphere without burning completely, Clarke’s head started spinning. She knew that the Ark was on borrowed time and according to Raven, they didn’t have any good options on how to come down, but this seemed extreme. And with no way of contacting the makeshift ships from afar, there was no way of telling if anyone had even survived the impact.

It was well past breakfast when Clarke and Abby finally left the council room and headed back home. There was nothing for them to do right now but rest. Clarke was especially grateful for the moment of respite when she realised the she had been awake for almost 36 hours now.

It was hard to believe that it was than 24 hours ago that she’d been attacked by Emerson but when she saw the bruises on her neck, while she was getting ready for bed, it all became very real, very soon. And yet, what was ever more unbelievable still, was that less than a day ago, she kissed Bellamy. And even after all that happened, she could still feel the ghost of his lips on hers.

***

When Clarke woke up next, she could’ve sworn it couldn’t have been more than fifteen minutes since she fell asleep. And unfortunately, she wasn’t that far off.

She was out for an hour, when doorbell woke her up, the shrill ringing coming from the speaker by her bedroom door. Her father had it rigged so that they could switch the rooms in which the doorbell was audible, since they all had such different schedules and it was a nightmare, whenever random visitors would wake someone up after a gruelling shift.

Clarke was regretting it now—until she opened the door and saw that Maya’s shoulders slumped in relief that it was her and not Abby who opened the door.

“Clarke! Thank heavens, it’s you,” Maya whispered and waved at Clarke to come outside and follow her. They moved around the corner and Maya took a tablet from under her jacket, showing it to Clarke.

“There’s been a breach,” she explained and started to tap on the tablet upside down, pulling some footage. “I couldn’t figure it out at first, cause come on, who could be hacking _us_ , right?” she was talking quickly and giggled nervously.

“But then, I saw this,” she said and played a video from inside a Level 5 control room. Suddenly, the door opened, Raven and Monty came inside while Jasper and Miller stood guard by the door. Raven started typing fast and the screen went black—she disabled the camera. “She didn’t scrub the footage, probably didn’t think anyone would be watching, but we’ve been working all night on tracking the Ark, so when the alarm from Level 5 came, I jumped on it.” Maya explained, rubbing her palm over her thighs, nervous.

“What were they looking for?” Clarke asked, suddenly more awake than ever.

“I don’t know. She’s good, she covered her tracks pretty well, and I couldn’t tell without taking a deep dive but at a first glance, it looked like she was checking out everything. Like she was just trying to see what we had.” Maya shrugged.

Clarke thought about it. If it was just curiosity, then maybe they had some time before they hit jackpot. It was more than certain that they would, though. There were skeletons upon skeletons it Mount Weather’s closets and it was hard to determine which one would be worst to be uncovered by strangers.

Suddenly, the tablet in Clarke’s hands came to life. Maya swore when she read the notification.

Clarke watched as Maya froze and went white as a sheet of paper. “They are at the airlock,” Maya revealed. Clarke nearly dropped the tablet.

The two of them set off running towards the stairs before the screen on the tablet went black again.

***

When they reached the airlock, Raven was already fiddling with the release mechanism. Wires stripped and parts discarded.

“Stop!” Clarke cried out and kept on running. Somewhere at the back of her head, she knew that even standing this close to the airlock without a suit was dangerous, but it didn’t matter. She could tell that Raven wasn’t far from unlocking the door. “You’ll kill us all!”

“No, not all of us,” Jasper yelled back. “Just _you_!”

“Jasper,” Clarke tried but Monty interrupted.

“We saw your research. The tests your mother was running on Raven, we know what you need us for. And we know that you have the equipment, we know all about the Harvests!”

Clarke paused, panic running the show right now. Blood rushed to her ears as she stood and watched Raven pulling more wires from the lock.

“If you know about the Harvest, then you should also know that we stopped that, that we don’t do this anymore,” Clarke said, taking a couple of slow steps forward. She wasn’t sure why. All 50 of them were standing between her and the airlock and there was no way she could stop them.

“Only because it wasn’t working how you wanted!” Jasper accused. Clarke didn’t argue, it’s not like he was that far from the truth, or that _that_ would be any better. “How can we know that we won’t wake up one day, hanging upside down, having our blood and marrow sucked out?!”

“Because we haven’t done it yet!” Maya’s voice startled Clarke. She stepped forward to stand at Clarke’s side and then went further, closer to the delinquents, never taking her eyes off of Jasper. When she got close enough, even Raven stopped working and listened.

“You all have only been here for a few hours but Raven and Finn were here for days! We took you in because we wanted to help you, because you were in danger.” Maya looked around at all of them now. “If we wanted to hurt you, we had plenty of opportunities to do so but we haven’t. But if you open this door now, you will hurt us. Kill us—for helping you.”

She was looking straight at Jasper again, as if sensing that if he was the most vocal of them all, he was probably the leader of this break out.

And she must’ve been right because as soon as Jasper dropped his head in defeat, the air had gone out of the rest of his companions. Raven looked at Monty and they both nodded, abandoning the lock.

Clarke joined Maya and cleared her throat. Her hand twitched but she stopped herself from reaching towards her neck, to the bruises.

“You’re right, we did figure out that your marrow could cure us. And yes, we do have a history of inhumane experiments.” She swallowed. “I don’t know if my word means anything but you have it. I promise you that I won’t let anything happen to you here.”

The kids started to murmur amongst each other but the fire had left their eyes.

“If you don’t want to stay here any longer, you won’t have to,” Clarke continued, over the voices. “We believe that the rest of your people have landed, some of them nearby. As soon as we find out if they made it safely, you’ll be free to go.”

That seemed to get them going again. They were talking over each other, arguing about whether or not they wanted to go back to the people who had sent them down here in the first place. Finally, Miller raised his hands and they all settled down—somewhat.

He stepped out of the crown and stood in front of Clarke. Gone was the smirk she’d seen on him when they first met, the easiness even in the face of adversities. He was serious now and once again, Clarke couldn’t believe that he was only 18.

“You have a president here, right?” he asked. Clarke nodded. “We want to a meeting with him. No ‘ _welcome_ ’s and other bullshit, just the truth. And we want to go out to search for the Ark. Some of us still got parents there, we wanna be the ones to find them.” The distrust was obvious in his voice but Clarke couldn’t blame him.

So, she agreed to organise the meeting with Jaha and watched as they all moved away from the airlock. With every fibre of her body Clarke wanted to follow them and check if they really went back to their dorms. But she didn’t. She stayed behind, hands shaking, and watched as Maya put the release mechanism back together.

***

The meeting with Jaha went well. Or, at least as well and it could’ve gone—with the President on one side and a group of distrustful teenagers on the other.

When Jaha first found out what had happened, Clarke was momentarily worried that actual steam might start coming out of his ears but before he could do something rash, like grant the delinquents’ wish and send them on their way, Wells managed to calm him down and remind his father that they still needed help from the Ark, in whichever form it might come. Even if that only meant expertise, that would be more that they had at the moment. And even if there was no love lost between the kids and the Ark, having them on their side could only help.

The atmosphere was tense when Jaha first came into the dorms and he let Wells do most of the talking at first—explaining how much repairs the base needed, how his father’s government was the one to put an end to the harvesting, how yes, they may have found a solution for their radiation problems but they decided not to share that with the rest of the population yet.

It was a huge gamble, to reveal so many vulnerabilities to the delinquents who were only just ready to irradiate the entire base but if they wanted their trust, they didn’t have another choice.

Despite how fraught the situation was, Clarke couldn’t stop herself from smiling as she listened to Wells when he spoke to the delinquents. How he knew where to look, what words to use, how to talk to them, so they didn’t feel like he was condescending and patronising them. His father chimed in here and there but it was Wells who convinced the delinquents to give them another chance.

“Good job, Mr. Future President,” Clarke congratulated him quietly once they left and were on their way back home. She nudged Wells with her elbow and he looked down, sheepish.

They both knew that just as Abby wanted Clarke to follow her into medicine, Jaha was hoping that his son would choose politics. Wells had always been self-conscious about it, not believing that he had the charisma or the determination to do it, he thought that people would only listen to him if he ploughed on with his father’s policies and dismissed his own ideas. But this, this was Wells Jaha at his best, this was the future leader who could bring and keep the peace.

It was decided that the scouting trip would leave the following morning. One dozen guards and as many delinquents were about to set off on a search for the closest and possibly the largest piece of the Ark.

Again, Bellamy was the first one to volunteer and again, Clarke was far from surprised. For all his grumbling and standoffishness when they first met the delinquents, Clarke knew that he’d grown to care for them. And if she looked close enough, she could see a tiny smirk playing on his lips whenever he made one of the kids roll their eyes at him or called him grumpy. He was fucking enjoying it.

The only thing that Clarke was disappointed about was that once again, he was gone before they could talk about, well, them. She kept reminding herself that this was a crazy time and they had more important things to take care of first but it didn’t stop the twinge of dread whenever she allowed herself to mull it over. She couldn’t help the thought that maybe, he was doing it on purpose. Avoiding her while he figured out how to let her down gently.

Clarke shook her head for the nth time that day, reminding herself that she still had a ton of work to do before her exams and she should probably stop staring at the screens, awaiting Bellamy’s return, and maybe get her ass in gear.

At some point, Clarke fell asleep with her head on the desk and her notes flying all around her. Her mother placed a gentle hand onto her daughter’s shoulder to wake her up.

“Honey, we’ve got more guests,” Abby said with a smile, brushing some of the hair that escaped from Clarke’s braid away from her face. Clarke blinked slowly until she fully woke up and bolted upwards, looking around the room as if all those people were right there.

She rubbed at her eyes and loosened her hair from the braid, retying it into a high bun. She got up from her chair and followed her mother out of their flat without a word. She was still stifling yawns when they got to the council room. There, she found Jaha and Wells at the head of the table, the rest of the council on both their sides, and on the other end of the room, two men she didn’t recognise. As Abby took her seat at the table, Clarke slipped to the back of the room, where she stood on Miller’s right.

She shot another look at the two men and then she noticed it; the one in the uniform must be Miller’s dad. Which would make the other—

“That’s Kane,” Miller muttered to her, pointing with his chin to the other man. “Apparently, things only got worse after we came down. Our last chancellor hijacked one dropship and damaged the others, and launched herself and her people down to the ground. Sinclair, our engineer, thinks they must’ve missed their window or were knocked off course, cause they disappeared from the radars. Probably dropped into the ocean. What a shame,” he deadpanned. Clarke shot him a glance but well, she couldn’t imagine any of the delinquents had fond memories of the chancellor who deemed them expendable.

“Can we trust him?” Clarke whispered back. Miller looked at her like he wanted to remind her that he wasn’t sure if he could trust _her_ but he didn’t say anything. He just hummed.

“Well, he used to be judge, jury and executioner, so I’m not really a fan,” Miller finally said. “But dad says that he changed after what happened. I mean, he was happy to see me, so he’s definitely different. So, I guess.”

Clarke chuckled under her breath, which pulled a small smirk out of Miller.

They tuned in to the conversation then and it seemed that Miller was right and Kane really wanted them to work together. It certainly didn’t hurt that their first night on the ground, their scouts were attacked by the Outsiders while Bellamy brought their children back home.

And then, which Clarke noticed with astonishment, Kane seemed incapable of looking away from her mother – and the feeling seemed mutual. It was a strange conclusion to reach, that of all the people in the world, Abby would be interested in a man who fell from the sky and was possibly holding the key to their survival but stranger still, it didn’t sting as much as Clarke expected it to. Her dad had been gone for eight years now, she couldn’t really blame her mother for being ready to move on.

***

It took another day for Kane to go to his camp and come back with news but amazingly, enough of the Arkers agreed to donate their marrow that Abby was not only able run more test but actually prepare first five transplant doses, all in exchange for supplies and protection from the Outsiders.

And then, all that was left was finding someone brave – or reckless – enough to be the first lab rat. To take the dose and go outside without the protective gear.

Abby nearly had a heart attack when Clarke announced that she wanted to be the first test subject. Her mother grabbed her wrist and tried to drag her away from the medical wing but Clarke yanked her hand, _hard_ , and ran around her mother and to the lab. She shut the door behind her and grabbed one of the dosed. Clarke knew if contained a small dose of a soporific, to make sure that procedure went smoothly and painlessly but she was hoping that by the time her mother opened the door, it would be too late to stop her.

Clarke hooked herself to the IV line and laid down on one of the beds. Few moments later, she started to feel the effects of the sleeping agent and before she knew, she was out and the last thing she registered was the sound of the small glass window on the door breaking.

***

When Clarke woke up, her elbow hurt like a motherfucker. 

She winced, not yet understanding what was going on, but when she finally opened her eyes, she realised that she had rolled over while she slept and was now putting her entire body weight on—a bandage?

She sat up on the bed and only then, she saw that for some reason, she was in medical. Her fingers brushed over the dressing and then she remembered. The IV, the bone marrow, the experiment.

“Welcome back to the living, Sleeping Beauty,” Clarke heard from behind her. She turned around and saw that on the next bed, sat Bellamy, an identical dressing on the inside of his elbow. She froze.

“You took the dose?” she asked, disbelieving. “It was dangerous.”

Bellamy’s eyebrows shot up, and his lips pursed into a smirk. Right. She took one first.

Bellamy shifted in his place, his hand coming up to run at the back of his neck. Suddenly, he looked worried and uncertain. Clarke frowned.

“You know, when your mother called to help her get inside, because you locked yourself in here, I was so scared.” He said, quietly. It was only then, that Clarke realised that they were alone in the room.

“What?” she whispered.

Bellamy sighed and got up from his bed. He walked over to Clarke and she had to look up to see his face. He took one of her hands in his, his long, rough fingers holding hers gently. Bellamy rubbed his thumb over her knuckled and Clarke could hear her heart beating in her ears. “When we got in and I saw you just laying here, unconscious, I couldn’t breathe.”

Clarke’s breath hitched. She blinked a couple of times and Bellamy smiled down at her. Shyly, hesitantly. 

“Clarke, I can’t lose you. I think—” he sighed and brought his other hand to her face. He placed it over her cheek, so very close to where she could still see the bruises Emerson had left on her neck. Only this time, there was a whole different reason why she couldn’t quite catch a breath.

Bellamy’s fingers twitched against her neck. “I love you,” he said, voice hoarse. Clarke’s mouth dropped open but no sound came out. A few heartbeats passed before she registered the words and her face stretched into a grin so wide, her cheeks hurt. Bellamy reciprocated, tiny wrinkles showing around his eyes. Clarke took her hand out of his grasp and brought it to his face. She ran her finger over his cheekbone, down the side of his face and over his jaw to his mouth. The pads of her fingers brushed his lower lip and the warm breath she felt against her skin was the last straw.

She surged forward and replaced her fingers with her lips. Bellamy growled into her mouth and stepped closer, crowding her against her bed. Their hands were roaming around each other’s bodies without any input from their brains and when Bellamy brushed the side of her breast, she gasped and pulled him to her. Bellamy lost his balance and landed on top of her, almost knocking all of the air out of her lungs.

His lips landed somewhere near her ear and when he exhaled, the air tickled and Clarke started giggling. Bellamy propped himself on one arm but remained so close to her that she could count all his freckles.

Clarke wrapped one of her hands around his forearm and put the other over Bellamy’s heart.

“I love you,” she said. Bellamy smiled down at her and claimed her lips into another kiss that stole her breath away.

***

The other three doses went to Wells, Maya and – much to Bellamy’s objections, Octavia. All five of them recovered from the procedure brilliantly but it was another few days before Abby felt they were ready to go outside and the test the treatment.

Or technically, she was all but forced to sign off on their clean bills of health because it was the time to fulfil their end of the bargain.

Seeing as ending the harvesting program earned Jaha some good will with the Outsiders, he was able to send a message to the Commander and set up the meeting between the coalition, the Arkers and Mount Weather. He wasn’t sure about sending his people to Polis without guns or more protection but Clarke and Wells convinced him that the Outsiders already knew what weapons they had but seeing their people walk outside safely would be a better show of strength than any gun.

None of them were sure what to expect from this meeting but they sure were hoping that the fact that the Commander agreed to in in the first place meant that she was ready to deal. And seeing how this largest part of the Ark landed right on the edge of the Woods Clan territory, on the infertile ground, everyone hoped that she’d agree to give this land to the Arkers in exchange for a promise not to infringe on other territories – as soon as the rest of the stations were found and the people relocated.

On the day that they were to leave on their journey to Polis, Clarke found herself suddenly, understandably, nervous. Only she couldn’t quite put a finger on whether it was more because she was about to walk outside unprotected for the first or because she had suddenly become an ambassador and was supposed to negotiate for peace.

With shaking hands, she walked over to the closet and took the helmet off the hook before she realised that she wouldn’t be putting the suit on after all. She huffed a chuckle that turned into a broad smile as she felt Bellamy’s hand on the small of her back. She turned around and his hand moved to her waist, guiding her closer into his arms.

“Ready to be a badass?” he asked. Clarke grinned and waltzed out of his embrace, leaving him to scramble after her.

The five of them stood in front of the airlock, waiting for the rest of the personnel to clear the room before they could open the door. Finally, when they were let alone, Maya went over to the control panel and entered the code.

“Ready?” she asked and when Wells nodded, she hit the command button and the lock started hissing and the locks released and the door started to open.

Clarke grabbed Bellamy’s hand and felt him squeeze her fingers.

“Together?” he asked.

Clarke inhaled and nodded.

“Together.”

**Author's Note:**

> i hope you liked this! thank you so very much for reading. comments and kudos will be welcomed like manna ;-)  
> come and find me on tumblr @[carrieeve](https://carrieeve.tumblr.com).


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